Victory Road
by chiggenboi
Summary: The path to championship is paved with as much agony as it is with glory. Follow Hilbert, the newest idealistic young trainer to tread this treacherous path, as he experiences the loving bonds and brutal suffering that come from dedicating oneself to being the very best. In the end, is any of it worth it? (Liberties will occasionally be made)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Boy and his Axew

The afternoon sun beat down hard on the tanned dirt of a cliffside area, which was otherwise devoid of activity. It was then that a small green dragon-type pokemon with dagger-like tusks came over, sniffing the area for sources of nourishment. Rustling was heard in a nearby bush, but the pokemon paid no attention to it. Out popped out the head of Hilbert, a young boy with light brown hair. _"Woah, an Axew! This is gonna be a great first capture!"_ he thought, getting a pokeball ready.

"Here goes!" Hilbert said aloud, throwing it as hard as he could at the Axew.

The dragon caught on though, violently swerving his head as the pokeball drew close. The tusk scraped the pokeball, producing a large tear, and the force knocked it back at the speed of a professional baseball pitcher's throw. It hit the boy square in the face, sending him flying back.

"Ow!" Hilbert yelled, struggling to get up. He dashed right at the Axew.

"Hey, you scratched my only pokeball! And my face!" Hilbert complained, holding the battered item in his hands. The Axew simply put his hand to his mouth and snickered.

"Grrrr!" the boy yelled, chasing the little dragon while shaking his fists. Axew wore a smug grin the entire way, but was no longer paying attention to where he himself was going. Once they were near a lake, his foot struck a large rock, hurling the pokemon into the water. "Eep!" Axew cried out.

The pokemon desperately flailed his arms to get out, but ended up sinking below the surface; his hyperventilation causing countless bubbles to form. Axew eventually fell unconscious.

"No!" Hilbert yelled, diving into the water. He reached his hand for Axew's rapidly descending body, the the glow of the water surface's light reflecting on his arm.

Axew opened his eyes very slowly, taking in the surroundings. He was on a bed bathed in the warm light of a nearby window; a window that a young boy was sleeping under. A shadow then enveloped the pokemon, belonging to a woman around 30, with light brown hair. "Ah, you're awake!" she said, putting down her knitting needle. "My son exhausted himself bring you here. Said there was no way he'd let you die without getting his 'revenge'." she began.

"Although, I suppose I should be the one getting 'revenge', considering what you did to Hilbert's 10th birthday present. There's no way he'll use something so scratched."

The mother lifted the torn pokeball with her hands, causing Axew to shoot up, gulping hard.

"Ahhh, don't worry!" she reassured. "I won't cook you or anything. At least not without pepper, anyways."

Axew gulped even harder.

"Heehee, I'm kidding!" the mother chuckled. "I know you were probably just defending yourself. Besides, I should've hid the pokeball better."

She looked over at her son, still snoozing away.

"...Since he won't want to use it though, maybe my baby boy also won't want to go on a long journey without any family to protect him..?" the mother quietly remarked, giving a concerned expression.

Axew simply stared at her.

"Oh! Did I say that out loud? I'm sorry," she apologized, cheeks turning a faint shade of red. "I'll uhhh... Get some more meds for you both before the pokemart closes. Then I can send you on your way."

As she made her way to the door, Axew merely stood watching in silence. His eyes also appeared concerned.

Two hours later, the door opened, letting in a wave of orange light from the imminent sunset. "Hilbert, dear! I'm home!" the mother called out, holding a shopping bag. As she looked at the other side of the room, her mouth suddenly opened wide, and dropped her shopping bag. After several seconds of taking in the sight though, her surprise turned into joy as her mouth formed a faint smile.

She witnessed her boy still snoozing, being bathed in a golden-orange glow from the window above. On top of him was Axew. He was sleeping peacefully. The two appeared at peace, as if nothing could ever hurt them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Burning Grass, Boiling Water, Raging Fire

A huge stadium flooded with thousands of crowd members wildly cheered. At the bottom stood a gruff man, with a pokemon donning the appearance of a giant purple scorpion, with serrated edges comprising its limbs. It was struggling to catch its breath. The man himself wore a ripped vest, revealing a dagger tattoo on his bicep. "Drapion, don't let this little girl's pet get the best of you! Stand up, or we lose everything!" he commanded.

On the other side stood a teenage blonde girl in a light blue shirt. "Rex, I have a name. It's Cynthia; and I'll show you just how much damage this 'little girl's pet' can do!" she retorted, looking over at her companion. It was a blue sand shark pokemon with beady yellow eyes locked on to the Drapion. "Gabite! Dragon Rush!" Cynthia ordered.

"Grahhhhh!" her pokemon wailed, launching off like a fighter jet.

"Drapion, sludge wave! Drown that pet in poison!" Rex commanded. His pokemon spat up a river of toxic chemicals, quickly flooding a quarter of the stadium. Gabite charged right into it.

"Hah! Looks like your pokemon's as good as gone," Rex snickered. "...Wait, what?!"

His shock was met with Gabite spinning like a drill, knocking the toxic liquid away as it charged straight at its target. The sand shark struck Drapion with its head, and slashed it several dozen times with razor-sharp claws. "Gahhh!" gasped Drapion, staggering back.

The scorpion attempted to retaliate with a whip of its stinger, only for it to be grabbed by Gabite. The sand shark's mouth glowed red, charging up an energy blast.

"Hyper beam!" Cynthia commanded.

Gabite obliged, unleashing the full fury of its strength into the face of its immobilized prey.

"Aghhhhh!" Drapion screamed in pain.

Drapion turned grey with the ashes generated, unable to move. It eventually collapsed on its back.

"That's it!" the announcer declared. "All of Rex's pokemon have fainted! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new champion of the Sinnoh region: Cynthia!"

The crowd instantly exploded with applause and cheer.

"No!" Rex screamed, pounding the ground.

"Well done, Gabite" Cynthia nodded to her pokemon, who also nodded back. Her composure was betrayed by the huge grin on her face.

Rex lunged in Cynthia's direction, shouting at the top of his lungs, "do you know what you've done?! I have nothing now!"

Cynthia turned her head as security guards grabbed the furious former champion, dragging him out of view. She grit her teeth.

"Uhhh... Well, that's all folks!" the announcer began. "Stay tuned for the closing ceremony!"

"Woah! Did you see that, mom?!" Hilbert cried out, laying in front of a TV.

"Sure did, sweetie!" his mother replied. "That battle was amazing. I can't believe a 17 year old beat the champion! She's got to be one of the youngest in history!"

"Really?!" Hilbert said, eyes wide. "Then I wanna fight her!"

"Oh my, at least give her a little time to enjoy the championship spot!" his mother giggled, patting her son on the head.

"If you're serious, I think you can still fight the gym leaders here in Unova to prepare for the Pokemon League there. Some regions accept badges from elsewhere, as long as you have all eight," Hilbert's mother informed.

She suddenly adopted a pensive expression, biting her lip. "...You really want to go out all the way to Sinnoh, though?"

"Yeah! That's where I'll fight the coolest trainer ever, right?" Hilbert rhetorically asked. His mother looked at the floor for a second before trying to perk back up. "...Of course! But you won't accomplish that until you get your starter pokemon first. Why don't you head over to Professor Juniper's lab? She should have them ready by now."

"Ah, right! I'm almost late. Thanks for telling me, mom!" Hilbert replied, putting his clothes on.

His mother secretly nodded to Axew, who nodded back and silently followed Hilbert to the door.

"Oh! Here's an X-transceiver device for phone calls. We can still chat from time to time if you'd like," his mother proposed.

"Thanks!" he replied, quickly hugging his mother. "Well, time to start my journey! See you mom, I'll miss you!"

"Sure thing honey, and me too!" his mother said, with a halfhearted grin. "But if you ever need hel-"

Hilbert shut the door, failing to hear his mother.

She sat for several seconds before weakly continuing, "...if you ever need help, you're always welcome back..."

The only response came from the silence of the room.

Hilbert walked toward a fairly pristine white building, starkly contrasting with the plain wooden houses of Nuvema Town. During the trek, he finally noticed Axew walking next to him. "Wait, what are you doing here?!"

"Axew," the dragon replied.

"Why thank you, that cleared up a lot," Hilbert sarcastically began. "Look, I don't know why mom let you stay. But if it's about me saving you, you don't have to feel like you owe me anything. Just go if that's what you want."

Axew gave a blank stare; Hilbert couldn't tell if it was because the pokemon was mocking him or genuinely wanted to stay.

He let out a deep sigh. "Fine, I guess I can't make you go away. Just don't get in my way, okay?"

Axew rolled his eyes, but still kept a steady pace beside the trainer.

Once Hilbert opened the white building's door, he saw a state-of-the-art lab, filled with test tubes, centrifuge machines, and many computers linked to each other. On the other side was a Mr. Mime busy cleaning. It was a short humanoid pokemon resembling a mime.

"Woah, so this is a research lab!" gawked Hilbert. "It's so... sciencey!"

"You bet it is!" called out a high pitched voice from behind a table. A loud thud was then heard.

"Ow! Stupid head, not having built-in cushions!" the voice complained.

"Uhhh, Professor Juniper?" reluctantly asked Hilbert.

"Huh? Oh, no! My name's Ema Cedar! I'm the assistant running things here while Juniper's out for the day," she replied, finally showing herself. Cedar was a teenage girl wearing a dirty labcoat and comically oversized glasses.

"Ah! I see. Uhhh, can I get my starter pokemon, Miss Cedar?" Hilbert inquired.

"MISS? DO I LOOK EIGHTY TO YOU?!" Cedar shouted in front of his face. Axew almost fainted.

She jumped back. "Ah, sorry! Juniper told me to treat every guest with respect no matter what. So uh, yeah you can totally get your starters from me!" Cedar beamed, pushing her posture outward. "Hey, how about we save time and have you select your starter when we're standing next to tall grass, so I can teach you how to battle right away?"

"That sounds really stupi-"

"Glad you like it! Let's go!" Cedar cut Hilbert off with a grin, dragging a suitcase with one arm and Hilbert's entire body with another.

They arrived, some more willing than others, in the middle of a grassy field in Route 1, where Cedar finally revealed the contents of the suitcase. It had three pokeballs, which she quickly opened. Out popped a green, red, and blue pokemon.

"The green one here is Snivy, a grass snake" she stated, pointing at the pokemon trying to look cool by spinning a blade of grass with its fingers. "The red fire pig's name is Tepig, and the blue one's a sea otter called Oshawott. Which one would you like?"

"Hmmmm..." Hilbert thought, scratching his non-existent beard.

A loud buzzing was then heard. Cedar looked at her X-Transceiver. "Ahhh nuts, I forgot to halt an experiment in the lab. Hauling all this back would take too long as well. I'll be quick, so I'm sure you'll be fine, though. Just don't fight anything, okay? See ya!" she announced, waving goodbye.

A couple minutes after she left, the starters were still showing themselves off with a cocky grin, each expecting to be Hilbert's favorite.

"Axew?" asked Axew. Hilbert turned toward the dragon. "If you're wondering which one I want to choose... I don't know. They all seem kinda ugly to me."

"Ehhh?!" the starters all shrieked in unison.

"Hm?" Hilbert turned around.

Snivy began violently ripping grass out of the ground. Tepig's head was visibly steaming from heat. Oshawott teared up from rage.

"Yaghhhh!" they wailed, jumping on Hilbert.

"Ahhhh!" he shouted, falling to the ground. Barely managing to shake them off, Hilbert bolted in the direction of town. "What did I say?!" he loudly inquired without a hint of irony, getting chased by three pint-sized pokemon.

Axew suddenly jumped in, tackling the Oshawott. "Gah!" the sea otter gasped, collapsing to the ground.

"Wait, you want to battle?" Hilbert wondered.

The other two starters turned to their aggressor in anger. Snivy threw leaf blades at Axew, while Tepig pelted him with embers from its mouth. The attacks were too quick to dodge, and Axew ended up taking the full brunt of them. He was reduced to his knees, legs trembling.

"Hey, that wasn't fair!" Hilbert chastised them. "You're not gonna take that, are you? Let's kick their butts!" he declared, turning to Axew. The ax dragon nodded.

The Oshawott got up, and soon the starters were readying another attack.

"Axew, if you know dragon rage, use it now!" Hilbert ordered.

A blinding blue ball of energy suddenly swarmed Axew's mouth, before being unleashed as a large beam at the three starters, knocking them into the air.

 _"Woah! That is one powerful move!"_ Hilbert thought.

When the dust settled, the starters were covered in dirt and bruises. All of them had fainted.

"Yeahhh, we did it!" Hilbert cheered, only to look at the battered bodies of his opponents right after.

"...Uh oh."

Hilbert hurried to the lab, carrying the fainted pokemon in his arms.

"What on earth did you do to the starters?!" Cedar demanded to know, almost jumping out of her coat. "Why did you beat them up?"

"Oh, no! It's not what you think!" Hilbert began. "I mean I did beat them up, but it's only because I called them ugly and-" "You insulted them too? Nonono, Juniper's gonna kill me! Hilbert, you're done here. Get out!" she demanded, pointing to the door.

"Wait! Isn't every trainer supposed to get a starter? How will I make it out there without one?" Hilbert asked. The assistant replied, "you still have one pokemon in your party. Therefore you can train, but go train elsewhere. Now leave!"

"But-"

"That's it. Mr. Mime, use screech!" Cedar ordered as the pokemon walked into view and puffed out its chest.

"Wait, how can a mime even scree-"

"MR. MIIIIIIIMMMMMEEEEEEE!" the pokemon wailed, producing a huge gust of wind, shaking the entire room.

"Ahhh! Okay, we're going!" Hilbert yelled, ears violently ringing. Axew jumped out the window, shattering the glass. Hilbert followed suit.

"Hey! Do you know how much that costs?! I can't even buy lemonade without spending 200 dollars!" Cedar shouted at them from the broken window. By that point however, the two were almost out of Nuvema Town.

After 20 minutes of running like a Doduo with one of its heads cut off, Hilbert and Axew stopped to catch their breath near a lake. "Hooo! Man, we are totally screwed, aren't we?" Hilbert panted. Axew gave a reluctant nod.

When he eventually regained his breath, he continued, "well, at least we can be screwed together. Guess we're even now, since I dragged you into that. But... thanks for saving me anyways, I really appreciate it," he smiled.

Axew backed up a bit from seeing Hilbert grin directly at him for the first time, but eventually mustered a small grin in return.

"I suppose you're my starter now" Hilbert began. "So, what do you say we go destroy some gym leaders, and worry about everything else later?"


End file.
